The site of Britain’s worst nuclear accident is being cleaned up after more than 50 years, a symbolic step forward in the country’s struggle to deal with its nuclear legacy while planning a new generation of power stations.

The chimney of the old Windscale plant at Sellafield, where a fire broke out in 1957, is to be dismantled after site managers said the radioactivity had decayed to safer levels.

September 5, 2013 7:31 pm

Contaminated Sellafield chimney to be dismantled

The site of Britain’s worst nuclear accident is being cleaned up after more than 50 years, a symbolic step forward in the country’s struggle to deal with its nuclear legacy while planning a new generation of power stations.

The chimney of the old Windscale plant at Sellafield, where a fire broke out in 1957, is to be dismantled after site managers said the radioactivity had decayed to safer levels.

Steve Slater, head of decommissioning at the site, said: “Bringing the chimney down will be a real visual demonstration of our commitment to cleaning up Sellafield.”

The 110m-high structure on the Cumbrian coast is the signature image of Britain’s troubled nuclear past, along with the decommissioned golf ball-shaped advanced gas reactor.

“The decommissioning challenges posed by the pile chimney are unique – no other structure in the world provides the same complexity in terms of radiological and conventional decommissioning constraints,” Mr Slater said.

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The artwork in the header, titled "JAPAN:Nuclear Power Plant," is copyright artist Tomiyama Taeko.

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